If you order fried noodles in Kuching, they will deep fry the noodles and after that, they will cook the tomato gravy with all the other ingredients and pour it over the noodles. Because of this, if you eat it on the spot, the noodles would be hard and crispy and many of my college mates (from Sibu) in the mid-70s did not like it at all. I, on the other hand, loved it a lot…and if you tapao it to take home, the noodles would have soaked up the gravy and turned soft and I would not mind it either way.
We cannot find noodles cooked this way anywhere in Sibu but we do have our own tomato char kway teow (fried flat rice noodles). This is the tomato char kway teow with crispy seafood at the Garden Hotel coffee house (RM10.00++)…
*recycled pic*
…which is the best I’ve had so far in town but as you can see, it is a bit pricey and not something that I can afford to have on a regular basis. I have also tried the one at the Red Carrot (RM6.50)…
…as well as those at some other places in town but so far, none had me jumping up and down with delight and running back for more.
Well, the other day, I decided to give it a try at this coffee shop. So far, the noodles that I’ve had there have been very good…and actually, I took the three senior ladies (my aunties) there for the Foochow fried noodles…
*recycled pic*
….when they were in Sibu and they said that they were nicer than what we had at this restaurant.
Well, this was what I got for RM5.00 with all the extra ingredients – the shrimps and the squid…
…and what it lacked in the colour, it certainly made up for it in the taste. It was very nice but I think the next time, I would ask for a bit more tomato sauce in order that it would have a stronger sweet and sour tomato flavour.
In the meantime, the hunt continues. Who knows I may find a place where the tomato char kway teow is even nicer than this one?
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 